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Either phrase is relevant at games where smaller-denomination chips are prevalent, such as blackjack, three-card poker and Let It Ride. In most casinos, dealers have players do this with a "cut card," an opaque plastic, solid-colored card. The technical term for the person in charge of a pit, or cluster, of table.:

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He strongly suggests that the records of the others justified closing casino gambling down altogether in the state. () Reading his words,which came into print only shortly after Ed Reid and Ovid Demaris wrote The Green Felt Jungle (),we can understand the elation the good people must have felt in when.:

There are, however, surprisingly few local fishing expressions probably because fishing is a universal language. The same A Day at the Casino. People have been gambling in Biloxi since the city was founded. But in gambling was legalized in Mississippi and Biloxi was transformed once again.

Craps and Other Dice Games Hazard. Demographic Categories of Players Gambling and Ethnicity. The Federal Wire Act of Gambling on the High Seas the Laws of. The Interstate Horseracing Act of The Knapp Commission New Jersey and Atlantic City Casinos. Organized Crime Control Act of Presidents Commission on Organized Crime.

Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of Roulette and Wheels of Fortune. Sex and Gambling in Nevada. Thompson Titanic Alvin Clarence Thomas. The Travel Act of Thompson Pratinjau tidak tersedia - Istilah dan frasa umum. As governments try to cope with fiscal pressures, legalized casinos offer a possible source of Ante Usually hear in stud poker, meaning the first bet made on a hand before you receive your cards. Baccarat A table game using 6 or 8 decks of cards which does not require skill.

The aim is to achieve a baccarat score of 9, or as close to that as possible. Bank Roll A total sum of money a player is willing to risk on a given visit to a casino. Breaking Hand A hand in blackjack that will break go over 21 with a one-card draw such as a hard 12, 13, 14, 15 or Not to be confused with a bust. Bet the Limit Wagering the maximum amount a player is allowed to risk in any game. Blackjack A two-card total of 21 consisting of an ace and a value card.

Burn Card The top card of the deck which is placed face down in the discard pile after the shuffle and cut. Bust Used in blackjack to describe a hand with a total that has exceeded This is the mathematical advantage that the House casino has over the players. Chips Round tokens that are used on casino gaming tables in lieu of cash. Come-out The first roll of the dice in craps that establishes the point. Craps Casino dice table-game where players attempt to predict the outcome of two dice.

Crapping-out In craps, having a bet on the pass line and losing by rolling a 2,3, or 12 on the come-out roll. Dealer Employee of the casino who deals the game. Also known as croupier, the French word for dealer, in the games of baccarat and roulette. Deuce Phrase used to mean a two in dice. Double Down Placing an additional wager up to the amount of the original on the first two cards of the hand the player is only allowed one card. First Base At a live blackjack table the first base is used to describe the first seat to the dealers left.

Fixed Odds Games Also know as instant win games. The name used to describe a game or event in which a gambler is able to establish what the return on a bet will be when it is placed. French Roulette European Roulette A wheel containing just one zero. Mainly found in the European casinos.

Four of a Kind In Poker four cards of the same denomination. Full House In Poker a set of three cards of the same denomination plus a set of two cards of the same denomination. Gambling The voluntary risking of a sum of money on the outcome of a game or other event. Hard Hand Any hand without an ace or a hand where all cards are aces are counted as one. High Roller A player who makes extremely large wagers. House Edge The mathematical edge that the casino has over the player on a particular bet.

House Rules Set of rules established by the casino for the players and dealers to follow. Breaking these rules can get you barred from a casino. Inside Bet A bet placed in roulette that is on a single number, two numbers or four numbers. Lower pairs do not pay off. Jackpot The biggest payoffout issued by the slot machinesa casino game, particularly a slot machine.

Also, the best online casino guide in the UK. Line Short for payline which is the line of symbols on a slot which must be filled with certain combinations in order to create a win.

Video poker also offers its own version of losses disguised as wins. Whatever the exact figure, the house odds make it such that if a player plays long enough, she will eventually lose her money. T echnological innovations have not only rendered electronic gaming machines wildly profitable; they have also, according to experts, made them more addictive. A crucial element in modern gambling machines is speed. Individual hands or spins can be completed in just three or four seconds.

For many gambling addicts, the zone itself becomes more desirable even than winning. Players have gone for 14, 15, 16 hours or more playing continuously. They have become so absorbed in the machines that they left their young children unattended in cars, wet themselves without noticing, and neglected to eat for hours.

Casinos and game designers have come up with many ways to keep patrons at their machines and playing rapidly. The chairs are ergonomically designed so that someone can sit comfortably for long stretches.

Winnings can be converted back to credits or printed on vouchers to be redeemed later. Waitresses come by to take drink orders, obviating the need for players to get up at all. Public-policy advocates compare slot machines to cigarettes. Both, they claim, are products specifically and deliberately engineered to have addictive properties that are known to hook users. Eubanks was the lead counsel for the Justice Department in successful federal litigation against the tobacco industry between and She joined Noffsinger in representing Stacy Stevens after he convinced her that the deception used by the gambling industry paralleled that of the tobacco industry.

The data they track in real time on player cards alert them to these pain points: Hosts are also on the lookout for telling behavior, such as someone striking a machine in frustration or slumping over it in discouragement.

When hosts spot someone in a state like this, they may swoop in and offer a voucher for some free credits, a drink, or perhaps a meal in the restaurant, where the player can take a break until the resistance passes and he can resume gambling. When players do exhaust all their funds, casinos will sometimes loan them additional money. In , she spent an entire night gambling at Caesars Riverboat Casino, drinking strong alcoholic beverages provided for free.

When she eventually came to the end of her money playing blackjack, the casino offered her a counter check, basically a promissory note, to enable her to keep playing. She signed the check and gambled away the money. That happened five more times. Noffsinger countersued on her behalf.

Experts say casinos should be aware that when they extend credit to losing patrons, they are by definition enabling problem gamblers. Casinos might similarly be held liable for the financial consequences suffered by gamblers to whom they extend credit beyond a certain limit. In , the widow of a man who killed himself after racking up insurmountable debt at a Mississippi casino sued the casino under an extrapolation of dramshop laws. So far, no U. Nor should they, according to the gambling industry.

Nothing of that sort exists to measure what the level is to have gambled too much. Mountaineer Casino and IGT both declined repeated requests for comment. It does not, however, prevent them from losing money if they visit a casino despite the restriction. Some experts believe self-exclusion lists are not effective, because they seem to be erratically enforced.

Despite the presence of sophisticated surveillance technology, patrons are not routinely screened for their self-exclusion status. Given that casino operators and slot-machine manufacturers are adamant that the blame for gambling addiction resides with the individual, it is not surprising that research by the industry-funded National Center for Responsible Gaming favors studies directed toward confirming this conclusion.

Members of the board of directors, she asserts, do not make research decisions, and the center has a separate scientific advisory board. She says that the problem is rooted in the individual. Independent research not funded by the NCRG has shown how false wins, near misses, and other such features influence gamblers, especially the way they perceive expected outcomes. Most of them are making correct conclusions based on deceptive information.

Keith Whyte, the executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, says that although the industry should have a role in research and public-education efforts, it cannot be effective on its own. The group, which maintains a neutral stance toward legal gambling, receives a large share of its funding from the industry.

A lmost a decade after the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act launched the dramatic expansion of casino gambling into new jurisdictions, the federal government appointed a commission to study the impact of the proliferation.

Despite that warning, states have been unable to resist the continued expansion of casino gambling. One reason for the ongoing growth is the financial clout of the industry itself.

Many states provide tribal casinos with regional monopolies in exchange for revenues skimmed off the top of casino profits—as much as 30 to 40 percent in some places. Kansas actually owns the games and operations of nontribal casinos. New Jersey, Delaware, and Rhode Island have all provided financial bailouts to faltering casinos. Communities typically build casinos based on a mirage of false promises: It should not be allowed by anyone, anywhere, anytime. In defense of its products and practices, the gambling industry insists that it is heavily regulated and therefore safe.

Nelson Rose, the author of Gambling and the Law. Each state in which gambling is legal has set up its own commission to regulate the industry, but there seems to be a symbiotic relationship between regulators and the industry. Many gaming-commission members—including those who approve applications for casino licenses—are advised by consultants for private companies also on casino payrolls. Yet such essential disclosure is not required of electronic gaming machines. As it happens, the Nevada State Gaming Control Board addressed exactly this question during its hearings on virtual-reel technology.

They seem unwilling to deal with the social costs. Les Bernal of Stop Predatory Gambling agrees that the close relationship between the state and its gambling interests was crucial: Essentially what the West Virginia Supreme Court has said is that gambling interests in West Virginia are immune from liability. Former West Virginia House Majority Leader Rick Staton has expressed regret over his role in expanding legalized gambling in the state.

There have been more people who have lost a lot of money, there have been more people who have had to file bankruptcy, there have been more people who have embezzled, there have been more people who have committed suicide. And that, according to several experts, is what it will probably take—a court trial, which would open access to private industry documents. They cannot afford to have that made public, because it would confirm what everybody knows: The more lawyers read about it, the more they are going to start smelling blood in the water.

It just takes for a case to be brought up in the right jurisdiction. A photograph of him later that week, when he was deep-sea fishing in Cabo San Lucas, a place that usually brought him happiness, reveals the heaviness in his expression—his eyes defeated, his smile gone.

In the months after he was fired, Stevens tried taking the antidepressant Paxil and saw a therapist, but he did not admit to Stacy that he was still gambling almost every day. As spring turned into summer, he knew that charges from the IRS were forthcoming following its investigation into his embezzlement and that even after serving time in prison, he would likely still be on the hook for the hundreds of thousands of dollars he owed in back taxes and penalties.

His former employer seemed close to pressing charges, having put the police on notice. He would never be able to work in the financial sector again. Once the affair hit the papers, his family would be dragged through the gantlet of small-town gossip and censure. He could see no way to spare them other than to sacrifice himself. By mid-afternoon on August 13, , Stacy had started to worry.

But she got no response until about an hour later, when he sent his last text to her: Stevens had just called him. Bender had tried to talk him out of killing himself, but Stevens had hung up.

Bender said he would call They found Stevens sitting on the railroad tie by his Jeep. The editor of the right-wing news site admitted that its coverage of a major political campaign was dishonest, but the news barely made a blip in conservative media outlets. The condition has long been considered untreatable. Experts can spot it in a child as young as 3 or 4. But a new clinical approach offers hope. This is a good day, Samantha tells me: But today promises unalloyed joy.

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She seems poised and cheerful, a normal preteen. But when we steer into uncomfortable territory—the events that led her to this juvenile-treatment facility nearly 2, miles from her family—Samantha hesitates and looks down at her hands. The suburbs of the American west are struggling, too. This is not one of them. A decade after the start of the Great Recession, it struggles with pervasive crime and poverty. A fifth of the population lives below the poverty line, up from 13 percent in Hemet is not alone in its troubles.

They also lost jobs and businesses between and In the first novel ever written about Sherlock Homes, we learn something peculiar about the London detective. Holmes, supposedly a modern man and a keen expert in the workings of the world, does not know how the solar system works. Specifically he is unfamiliar with the heliocentric Copernican model, which, upon its slow acceptance in the 17th century, revolutionized Western thought about the place of our species in the universe.

If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work. The arctic freeze over the United States this week is producing the kind of frigid temperatures typical for the red planet.

On Thursday morning, Adam Gill stepped outside in a heavy, bright-yellow coat, bulky gloves, and a ski mask to brace himself against the blistering wind. He brought with him a metal teakettle full of boiling water. As he tipped the kettle over, the piping-hot liquid turned instantly into snow and blew away in the wind.

The video of Gill , a meteorologist at the observatory, conducting this little presentation received thousands of sympathetic likes on Facebook. The temperature that day at the observatory hit a bone-chilling low of degrees Fahrenheit degrees Celsius —and that was without accounting for wind chill.

The day broke the previous record of degrees Fahrenheit degrees Celsius , set in Will the growing demand for multilingual early-childhood programs push out the students these programs were designed to serve? Students chatter with one another as they work, smiling and joking and wiggling in and out of their chairs. But this one is different. Smiles break out on an array of faces, and the chatter spills out in English and Spanish. Activists are disrupting lectures to protest "white supremacy," but many students are taking steps to stop them.

At Reed College, a small liberal-arts school in Portland, Oregon, a year-old Saturday Night Live skit recently caused an uproar over cultural appropriation. You could say that his critique is weak; that his humor is lame; that his dance moves are unintentionally offensive or downright racist. All of that, and more, was debated in a humanities course at Reed.

But many students found the video so egregious that they opposed its very presence in class. She told me more: The gold face of the saxophone dancer leaving its tomb is an exhibition of blackface. This year, podcasts got funnier, sharper, and even more niche. Our recommendations here pass a vigorous audio smell test. First, the arrival of a new podcast episode must send you into an ethical quandary: How do I get out of at least some of my obligations today to listen to this?

Second, you must be able to recommend this to a colleague with the knowledge that your reputation is at stake. Finally, the podcast world, like any other sphere, is about what have you done for me lately.

These shows generated maximum buzz, kept us refreshing our apps, broke boundaries, and made our future selves romanticize the golden years of podcasting. People stranded at Disneyland, a spectacular rocket launch in California, polar bears dance for the Pope, Christmas on an Australian beach, and much more. People stranded at Disneyland; a spectacular rocket launch in California; polar bears dance for the Pope; violent attacks in Afghanistan and Mexico; a ridiculous amount of snow buries Erie, Pennsylvania; Christmas on an Australian beach; and much more.

See all of their coverage here. Its fourth season begins with an opposite horror: He can conjure nightmares from anywhere. Magazine Current issue All issues Manage subscription Subscribe. Subscribe Subscribe Give a Gift. How Casinos Enable Gambling Addicts Modern slot machines develop an unbreakable hold on many players—some of whom wind up losing their jobs, their families, and even, as in the case of Scott Stevens, their lives.

The Hero of Heroes. Most Popular Presented by. These figures are not marginal. The shows that kept listeners refreshing their apps this year This year, podcasts got funnier, sharper, and even more niche. Usually found in front of a dealer at a gaming table, this holds the chip inventory for that table. Typically plastic discs, these are tokens used to represent real money at the gaming tables. The act of playing specific games, or playing in a specific way, so as to maximize the value of comps relative to the amount lost at the tables or slot machines.

Players earns comp points based on their playing activity. A machine used in some land based venues to automatically and continuously shuffle the cards during game play. They are typically used in blackjack to combat card counters. The term used to describe the approximate percentage of a deck, or decks, of cards before they are shuffled.

A specific type of casino bonus. A deposit bonus is one that is given for making a deposit to your online casino account. The payment method used to deposit funds to your online casino account. Popular deposit methods include credit cards, debit cards, e-wallets, and bank transfer.

A method of throwing dice that gives a player an increased likelihood of throwing, or not throwing, certain numbers. There is some debate about whether this is actually possible. Usually found to the right of a dealer at a gaming table, this is where played or discarded cards are placed.

An independent authority which approves online casinos that have proved they operate responsibly and provide a fair gaming experience. A method used by online casinos to ensure that financial transactions and private information are encoded and protected from hackers.

A bet with payout odds of 1: The percentage of the total amount wagered at a game that you can expect to win back. A type of online casino where you can play the games directly from your web browser. Also known as an instant casino. The mistaken belief that the outcome of a random event is influenced by previous outcomes. Believing that the next spin of the roulette wheel must be black because the previous ten spins have all been red is an example of gambler's fallacy.

The total amount returned from a winning bet, or a series of winning bets, including the initial stake s. The built-in advantage that the casino has in all games. It is usually gained by paying out at odds slightly below the true odds of winning, and is expressed as a house edge. Also known as a flash casino. Online casino games where players can play against real dealers using real gaming tables via real time video feeds.

An amount of money that may be loaned to player for the purposes of wagering in the casino, providing that player has an established line of credit. In certain games there is a "correct" way to play which will give players the best chance of winning or rather minimize their chances of losing.

This is way of playing is known as optimal strategy. Used to determine the amount a player will win from a winning bet, relative to the initial stake.

Payout odds of 2: The total amount returned to players in the long run, expressed as a percentage of money staked. Displays the amount that can be won for the various winning combinations on a slot game, or for winning hands at video poker, or any winning bets at a table game. Land based casinos are generally divided into various separate pits, with each pit containing a number of gaming tables.

New Jersey and Atlantic City Casinos. Organized Crime Control Act of Presidents Commission on Organized Crime. Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of Roulette and Wheels of Fortune.

He kept separate bank accounts. He used his work address for his gambling correspondence: W-2Gs the IRS form used to report gambling winnings , wire transfers, casino mailings. Even his best friend and brother-in-law, Carl Nelson, who occasionally gambled alongside Stevens, had no inkling of his problem. When Stevens ran out of money at the casino, he would leave, write a company check on one of the Berkman accounts for which he had check-cashing privileges, and return to the casino with more cash.

He sometimes did this three or four times in a single day. His colleagues did not question his absences from the office, because his job involved overseeing various companies in different locations. Stacy had no idea. In Vegas, Stevens had always kept plans to join her and the girls for lunch. At home, he was always on time for dinner. So she was stunned when he called her with bad news on January 30, She was on the stairs with a load of laundry when the phone rang.

Stevens never did come clean with her about how much he had stolen or about how often he had been gambling. Even after he was fired, Stevens kept gambling as often as five or six times a week. Stacy noticed that he was irritable more frequently than usual and that he sometimes snapped at the girls, but she figured that it was the fallout of his unemployment. When he headed to the casino, he told her he was going to see his therapist, that he was networking, that he had other appointments.

When money appeared from his occasional wins, he claimed that he had been doing some online trading. Afterward, Stacy studied gambling addiction and the ways slot machines entice customers to part with their money.

In , she filed a lawsuit against both Mountaineer Casino and International Game Technology, the manufacturer of the slot machines her husband played. At issue was the fundamental question of who killed Scott Stevens. Did he die because he was unable to rein in his own addictive need to gamble? Or was he the victim—as the suit alleged—of a system carefully calibrated to prey upon his weakness, one that robbed him of his money, his hope, and ultimately his life?

But since Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in , tribal and commercial casinos have rapidly proliferated across the country, with some 1, now operating in 40 states. The preferred mode of gambling these days is electronic gaming machines, of which there are now almost 1 million nationwide, offering variations on slots and video poker. Their prevalence has accelerated addiction and reaped huge profits for casino operators.

And, despite the popularity of slot machines and the decades of innovation surrounding them, when adjusted for inflation, there has not been a significant increase in the amount spent by customers on slot-machine gambling during an average casino visit. Noffsinger, 72, has been here before. A soft-spoken personal-injury attorney based in Indiana, he has filed two previous lawsuits against casinos. In , he sued Aztar Indiana Gaming, of Evansville, on behalf of David Williams, then 51 years old, who had been an auditor for the State of Indiana.

Four years later, Noffsinger filed a suit on behalf of Jenny Kephart, then 52 years old, against Caesars Riverboat Casino, in Elizabeth, Indiana, alleging that the casino, aware that Kephart was a pathological gambler, knowingly enticed her into gambling in order to profit from her addiction.

Kephart had filed for bankruptcy after going broke gambling in Iowa, and moved to Tennessee. When the casino sued her for damages on the money she owed, Kephart countersued. Unlike in his earlier gambling cases, however, he decided to include a products-liability claim in this one, essentially arguing that slot machines are knowingly designed to deceive players so that when they are used as intended, they cause harm.

In focusing on the question of product liability, Noffsinger was borrowing from the rule book of early antitobacco litigation strategy, which, over the course of several decades and countless lawsuits, ultimately succeeded in getting courts to hold the industry liable for the damage it wrought on public health. When Noffsinger filed the Stevens lawsuit, John W.

E ven by the estimates of the National Center for Responsible Gaming, which was founded by industry members, 1. That is more than the number of women living in the U. Others outside the industry estimate the number of gambling addicts in the country to be higher. Such addicts simply cannot stop themselves, regardless of the consequences. Gambling is a drug-free addiction. Yet despite the fact that there is no external chemical at work on the brain, the neurological and physiological reactions to the stimulus are similar to those of drug or alcohol addicts.

Some gambling addicts report that they experience a high resembling that produced by a powerful drug. Like drug addicts, they develop a tolerance, and when they cannot gamble, they show signs of withdrawal such as panic attacks, anxiety, insomnia, headaches, and heart palpitations. Neuroscientists have discovered characteristics that appear to be unique to the brains of addicts, particularly in the dopaminergic system, which includes reward pathways, and in the prefrontal cortex, which exerts executive control over impulses.

Gambling addicts may have a genetic predisposition, though a specific marker has not yet been uncovered. Environmental factors and personality traits—a big gambling win within the past year, companions who gamble regularly, impulsivity, depression—may also contribute to the development of a gambling problem.

Given the guilt and shame involved, gambling addiction frequently progresses to a profound despair. The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that one in five gambling addicts attempts suicide—the highest rate among addicts of any kind. There are no accurate figures for suicides related to gambling problems, but there are ample anecdotes: P roblem gamblers are worth a lot of money to casinos.

According to some research, 20 percent of regular gamblers are problem or pathological gamblers. Moreover, when they gamble, they spend—which is to say, lose—more than other players.

At least nine independent studies demonstrate that problem gamblers generate anywhere from 30 to 60 percent of total gambling revenues. Casinos know exactly who their biggest spenders are. According to a article in Time magazine, back in the s casino operators bought records from credit-card companies and mailing lists from direct-mail marketers.

These days, the casinos have their own internal methods for determining who their most attractive customers are. Machine Gambling in Las Vegas , 70 percent of patrons now use loyalty cards, which allow the casinos to track such data points as how frequently they play electronic gaming machines, how long they play, how much they bet, how often they win and lose, what times of day they visit, and so on.

Each time a patron hits the Spin or the Deal button, which can be as frequently as to 1, times an hour, the casino registers the data. In some machines, miniature cameras watch their faces and track their playing behavior. Several companies supply casinos with ATMs that allow patrons to withdraw funds through both debit and cash-advance functions, in some cases without ever leaving the machines they are playing. Some of the companies also sell information on their ATM customers to the casinos.

All of these data have enabled casinos to specifically target their most reliable spenders, primarily problem gamblers and outright addicts. They also employ hosts who befriend large spenders and use special offers to encourage them to stay longer or return soon.

Some hosts receive bonuses that are tied to the amount customers spend beyond their expected losses, which are calculated using the data gathered from previous visits. The business plan for casinos is based on the addicted gambler.

It increased the limits on some slot machines so that she could spend more on single games. It also made a new machine off-limits to other customers so that Richardson could be the first to play it. Management assigned Richardson an executive host, who offered her free drinks, meals, hotel stays, and tickets to entertainment events. In , Richardson, then 54, was sentenced to 14 to 20 years in prison for the crime.

The thefts ultimately put the company out of business. A representative for Ameristar Casino declined to comment on the lawsuit. District Court for Nebraska agreed that Colombo had sufficiently proved its initial claim of unjust enrichment, which the casino would have to defend itself against. W alk into the Mountaineer Casino in West Virginia, and the slot machines overwhelm you—more than 1, of them, lights blinking, animated screens flashing, the simulated sound of clinking coins blaring across the floor.

But the vast majority sit at the slot machines. Slots and video poker have become the lifeblood of the American casino. They generate nearly 70 percent of casino revenues, according to a American Gaming Association report, up from 45 percent four decades ago. Three out of five casino visitors say their favorite activity is playing electronic gaming machines. Their popularity spells profits not only for casinos but for manufacturers as well. Old-fashioned three-reel slot machines consisted of physical reels that were set spinning by the pull of a lever.

If the same symbol aligned on the payline on all three reels when they stopped spinning, the player would win a jackpot that varied in size depending on the symbol. The odds were straightforward and not terribly hard to calculate. But where each reel stops is no longer determined by the force of a good pull of the lever.

The physical reels are not spinning until they run out of momentum, as it might appear. Thus it is possible for game designers to reduce the odds of hitting a big jackpot from 1 in 10, to 1 in million. Moreover, it is almost impossible for a slots player to have any idea of the actual odds of winning any jackpot, however large or small.

The intent is to give the player the impression of having almost won—when, in fact, he or she is no closer to having won than if the symbol had not appeared on the reel at all. Some slot machines are specifically programmed to offer up this near-miss result far more often than they would if they operated by sheer chance, and the psychological impact can be powerful, leading players to think, I was so close.

Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School and the author of Gambling and the Law , has written, Nevada regulations operate on the theory that a sophisticated player would be able to tell the real odds of winning by playing a machine long enough. Research has shown that an elevated number of near-miss results does increase playing time. Indeed, as early as , B. Astonishingly, the patent application for virtual reel mapping, the technology that made all these deceptive practices possible, was straightforward about its intended use: I do it myself.

A device used to hold multiple decks of cards at a table game. Most Bay Area blackjack games have six or eight decks per shoe. This is only a small sample. Still, hopefully these terms will help you feel more comfortable the next time you roll up to the felt. With comfort usually comes confidence. Beyond that, all you need is a little luck. Matt Villano is a freelance writer in Healdsburg. Don't let casino lingo intimidate you at the table By Matt Villano Published 1: Get all the details at MarieClaire.

The business plan for casinos is based on the addicted gambler. It increased the limits on some slot machines so that she could spend more on single games. It also made a new machine off-limits to other customers so that Richardson could be the first to play it. Management assigned Richardson an executive host, who offered her free drinks, meals, hotel stays, and tickets to entertainment events. In , Richardson, then 54, was sentenced to 14 to 20 years in prison for the crime.

The thefts ultimately put the company out of business. A representative for Ameristar Casino declined to comment on the lawsuit. District Court for Nebraska agreed that Colombo had sufficiently proved its initial claim of unjust enrichment, which the casino would have to defend itself against. W alk into the Mountaineer Casino in West Virginia, and the slot machines overwhelm you—more than 1, of them, lights blinking, animated screens flashing, the simulated sound of clinking coins blaring across the floor.

But the vast majority sit at the slot machines. Slots and video poker have become the lifeblood of the American casino. They generate nearly 70 percent of casino revenues, according to a American Gaming Association report, up from 45 percent four decades ago. Three out of five casino visitors say their favorite activity is playing electronic gaming machines.

Their popularity spells profits not only for casinos but for manufacturers as well. Old-fashioned three-reel slot machines consisted of physical reels that were set spinning by the pull of a lever. If the same symbol aligned on the payline on all three reels when they stopped spinning, the player would win a jackpot that varied in size depending on the symbol. The odds were straightforward and not terribly hard to calculate.

But where each reel stops is no longer determined by the force of a good pull of the lever. The physical reels are not spinning until they run out of momentum, as it might appear. Thus it is possible for game designers to reduce the odds of hitting a big jackpot from 1 in 10, to 1 in million.

Moreover, it is almost impossible for a slots player to have any idea of the actual odds of winning any jackpot, however large or small. The intent is to give the player the impression of having almost won—when, in fact, he or she is no closer to having won than if the symbol had not appeared on the reel at all.

Some slot machines are specifically programmed to offer up this near-miss result far more often than they would if they operated by sheer chance, and the psychological impact can be powerful, leading players to think, I was so close. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School and the author of Gambling and the Law , has written, Nevada regulations operate on the theory that a sophisticated player would be able to tell the real odds of winning by playing a machine long enough.

Research has shown that an elevated number of near-miss results does increase playing time. Indeed, as early as , B. Astonishingly, the patent application for virtual reel mapping, the technology that made all these deceptive practices possible, was straightforward about its intended use: In the United States, by contrast, the federal government granted the patent for virtual reel mapping in IGT purchased the rights to it in and later licensed the patent to other companies.

Of course, classic, spinning-reel slot machines make up only a fraction of the electronic gaming machines available at most casinos. Technology has evolved such that many machines lack physical reels altogether, instead merely projecting the likenesses of spinning symbols onto a video screen. Instead of betting on one simple payline, players are able to bet on multiple patterns of paylines—as many as on some machines. This allows for more opportunities to win, but the results are often deceptive.

You can get to of these false wins, which we also call losses , an hour. Because the machine is telling the player he or she is winning, the gradual siphoning is less noticeable. Related to the video slot machines are video-poker terminals, which IGT began popularizing in The standard five-card-draw game shows five cards, each offering players the option to hold or replace by drawing a card from the 47 remaining in the virtual deck.

The games require more skill—or at least a basic understanding of probabilities—than the slot machines do. As such, they appeal to people who want to have some sense of exerting control over the outcome. They saw, for instance, patrons going more often for four of a kind than the royal flush, a rarer but more lucrative hand, and they adjusted the machines accordingly. Video poker also offers its own version of losses disguised as wins.

Whatever the exact figure, the house odds make it such that if a player plays long enough, she will eventually lose her money. T echnological innovations have not only rendered electronic gaming machines wildly profitable; they have also, according to experts, made them more addictive.

A crucial element in modern gambling machines is speed. Individual hands or spins can be completed in just three or four seconds. For many gambling addicts, the zone itself becomes more desirable even than winning.

Players have gone for 14, 15, 16 hours or more playing continuously. They have become so absorbed in the machines that they left their young children unattended in cars, wet themselves without noticing, and neglected to eat for hours. Casinos and game designers have come up with many ways to keep patrons at their machines and playing rapidly. The chairs are ergonomically designed so that someone can sit comfortably for long stretches. Winnings can be converted back to credits or printed on vouchers to be redeemed later.

Waitresses come by to take drink orders, obviating the need for players to get up at all. Public-policy advocates compare slot machines to cigarettes. Both, they claim, are products specifically and deliberately engineered to have addictive properties that are known to hook users.

Eubanks was the lead counsel for the Justice Department in successful federal litigation against the tobacco industry between and She joined Noffsinger in representing Stacy Stevens after he convinced her that the deception used by the gambling industry paralleled that of the tobacco industry. The data they track in real time on player cards alert them to these pain points: Hosts are also on the lookout for telling behavior, such as someone striking a machine in frustration or slumping over it in discouragement.

When hosts spot someone in a state like this, they may swoop in and offer a voucher for some free credits, a drink, or perhaps a meal in the restaurant, where the player can take a break until the resistance passes and he can resume gambling. When players do exhaust all their funds, casinos will sometimes loan them additional money.

In , she spent an entire night gambling at Caesars Riverboat Casino, drinking strong alcoholic beverages provided for free. When she eventually came to the end of her money playing blackjack, the casino offered her a counter check, basically a promissory note, to enable her to keep playing. She signed the check and gambled away the money. That happened five more times. Noffsinger countersued on her behalf. Experts say casinos should be aware that when they extend credit to losing patrons, they are by definition enabling problem gamblers.

Casinos might similarly be held liable for the financial consequences suffered by gamblers to whom they extend credit beyond a certain limit. In , the widow of a man who killed himself after racking up insurmountable debt at a Mississippi casino sued the casino under an extrapolation of dramshop laws.

So far, no U. Nor should they, according to the gambling industry. Nothing of that sort exists to measure what the level is to have gambled too much. Mountaineer Casino and IGT both declined repeated requests for comment. It does not, however, prevent them from losing money if they visit a casino despite the restriction. Some experts believe self-exclusion lists are not effective, because they seem to be erratically enforced.

Despite the presence of sophisticated surveillance technology, patrons are not routinely screened for their self-exclusion status. Given that casino operators and slot-machine manufacturers are adamant that the blame for gambling addiction resides with the individual, it is not surprising that research by the industry-funded National Center for Responsible Gaming favors studies directed toward confirming this conclusion.

Members of the board of directors, she asserts, do not make research decisions, and the center has a separate scientific advisory board. She says that the problem is rooted in the individual. Independent research not funded by the NCRG has shown how false wins, near misses, and other such features influence gamblers, especially the way they perceive expected outcomes. Most of them are making correct conclusions based on deceptive information.

Keith Whyte, the executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, says that although the industry should have a role in research and public-education efforts, it cannot be effective on its own.

The group, which maintains a neutral stance toward legal gambling, receives a large share of its funding from the industry. A lmost a decade after the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act launched the dramatic expansion of casino gambling into new jurisdictions, the federal government appointed a commission to study the impact of the proliferation. Despite that warning, states have been unable to resist the continued expansion of casino gambling.

One reason for the ongoing growth is the financial clout of the industry itself. Many states provide tribal casinos with regional monopolies in exchange for revenues skimmed off the top of casino profits—as much as 30 to 40 percent in some places. Kansas actually owns the games and operations of nontribal casinos. New Jersey, Delaware, and Rhode Island have all provided financial bailouts to faltering casinos. Communities typically build casinos based on a mirage of false promises: It should not be allowed by anyone, anywhere, anytime.

In defense of its products and practices, the gambling industry insists that it is heavily regulated and therefore safe. Nelson Rose, the author of Gambling and the Law. Each state in which gambling is legal has set up its own commission to regulate the industry, but there seems to be a symbiotic relationship between regulators and the industry. Many gaming-commission members—including those who approve applications for casino licenses—are advised by consultants for private companies also on casino payrolls.

Yet such essential disclosure is not required of electronic gaming machines. As it happens, the Nevada State Gaming Control Board addressed exactly this question during its hearings on virtual-reel technology.

They seem unwilling to deal with the social costs. Les Bernal of Stop Predatory Gambling agrees that the close relationship between the state and its gambling interests was crucial: Essentially what the West Virginia Supreme Court has said is that gambling interests in West Virginia are immune from liability. Former West Virginia House Majority Leader Rick Staton has expressed regret over his role in expanding legalized gambling in the state. There have been more people who have lost a lot of money, there have been more people who have had to file bankruptcy, there have been more people who have embezzled, there have been more people who have committed suicide.

And that, according to several experts, is what it will probably take—a court trial, which would open access to private industry documents. They cannot afford to have that made public, because it would confirm what everybody knows: The more lawyers read about it, the more they are going to start smelling blood in the water.

It just takes for a case to be brought up in the right jurisdiction. A photograph of him later that week, when he was deep-sea fishing in Cabo San Lucas, a place that usually brought him happiness, reveals the heaviness in his expression—his eyes defeated, his smile gone. In the months after he was fired, Stevens tried taking the antidepressant Paxil and saw a therapist, but he did not admit to Stacy that he was still gambling almost every day.

As spring turned into summer, he knew that charges from the IRS were forthcoming following its investigation into his embezzlement and that even after serving time in prison, he would likely still be on the hook for the hundreds of thousands of dollars he owed in back taxes and penalties.

His former employer seemed close to pressing charges, having put the police on notice. He would never be able to work in the financial sector again. Once the affair hit the papers, his family would be dragged through the gantlet of small-town gossip and censure. He could see no way to spare them other than to sacrifice himself. By mid-afternoon on August 13, , Stacy had started to worry. But she got no response until about an hour later, when he sent his last text to her: Stevens had just called him.

Bender had tried to talk him out of killing himself, but Stevens had hung up. Bender said he would call They found Stevens sitting on the railroad tie by his Jeep. The editor of the right-wing news site admitted that its coverage of a major political campaign was dishonest, but the news barely made a blip in conservative media outlets.

The condition has long been considered untreatable. Experts can spot it in a child as young as 3 or 4. But a new clinical approach offers hope. This is a good day, Samantha tells me: But today promises unalloyed joy. The girl needs supplies: Listen to the audio version of this article: Feature stories, read aloud: At 11, Samantha is just over 5 feet tall and has wavy black hair and a steady gaze.

She flashes a smile when I ask about her favorite subject history , and grimaces when I ask about her least favorite math. She seems poised and cheerful, a normal preteen. But when we steer into uncomfortable territory—the events that led her to this juvenile-treatment facility nearly 2, miles from her family—Samantha hesitates and looks down at her hands. The suburbs of the American west are struggling, too. This is not one of them. A decade after the start of the Great Recession, it struggles with pervasive crime and poverty.

A fifth of the population lives below the poverty line, up from 13 percent in Hemet is not alone in its troubles. They also lost jobs and businesses between and In the first novel ever written about Sherlock Homes, we learn something peculiar about the London detective. The Atlantic Lottery Corporation. Cash Transaction Reports and Money Laundering. Casino Nights Las Vegas Nights. Commission on the Review of National Policy toward Gambling Craps and Other Dice Games Hazard.

Demographic Categories of Players Gambling and Ethnicity. The Federal Wire Act of Gambling on the High Seas the Laws of. The Interstate Horseracing Act of The Knapp Commission New Jersey and Atlantic City Casinos.

Organized Crime Control Act of Presidents Commission on Organized Crime. Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of Roulette and Wheels of Fortune. Sex and Gambling in Nevada.